Here's a couple of pictures that Kyle sent this week. I have to say that I love the one of him with the ukulele and his suit sleeves pushed up. The other one is from the Zone Conference they had this last week. I'm glad he's having fun. Here's his letter from this week:

Hey mom!

Well I'm trying to upload the pictures right now, but it's taking it a while so you will probably get some this week and next week.

All the snow has melted. It is so nice! It is supposed to be around 75 today and 80 the next few days!

Dang! that's a lot of strawberries! Yeah that sounds like it would be a whole ton of work! Yeah hopefully there will be a ton of strawberries throughout the neighborhood. I hope that all goes well with your garden!

Zone Conference was awesome! We have them in Joplin. It's and hour and a half drive to get there. The conference is only one day, but there is a whole ton of stuff packed into that one day. We watched a video called "The Journey of Faith". It was way awesome. It talks all about the archeological and geological proof of the Book of Mormon.

We didn't have Church (last week) because of the snow. We had a ton of snow for this area.

General conference is going to be awesome! We have to go to the church for it. Which isn't too hard since its right across the street.

I hope that all goes well for Danielle and Brittney with their tests. Jayden climbs even more than she did when I was there? Somehow that actually doesn't suprise me.

I actually have a tape recorder and player. I've been making a tape for a couple weeks and once I fill it up I'll send it to you guys. So you don't need to buy me a player. I have a micro player though so you might have to wait to buy yours so we have the same size of tape.

My birthday was awesome! So funny story. When I got out of the shower on my birthday, the door handle broke on the inside so I couldn't open the door. After fighting with it for a few minutes, I had E. Budden slide me a hanger underneath the doorway. I was trapped in there for about 5 min. We weren't able to visit with anyone, but we were able to help the Wheats put up some drywall in their house. I love the presents you guys sent me. The Ukulele books are awesome and so is the brain book. I love the puzzle ball. It's intense. I can't get halfway through it yet. Yeah it's kinda weird to think that I'm not a teenager anymore.

My companion and I are getting along really well. We're always having a good time. Yes these are by far the best two years of my life. I had to buy some insoles for my shoes with arch support cause my shoes don't give me enough when I'm walkin around.

I'm going to send Jake and John a couple of my chainmale hacky sacks next week for their birthday so you can ask them about what I've been making when they get them. Bro. Adams (Our Branch Mission Leader) gave me a whole ton of wire to use for them so I won't have to buy any for a long time.

Yeah I remember Bro. Hales. It's been a long time since I've heard that name. Tell
him "Hi" for me.

This week has been a pretty slow week for us. We haven't been able to get very many visits with people at all. We only had 3 lessons with some of our investigators and we had 4 with some less-active members. Hopefully next week will be much better.

I hope that everything is going good for you guys. I love and pray for you all.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:
Rosco+Mary - We visited with them twice this week. The last time that we saw them, we watched special witnesses of christ. Rosco said that he really liked it. They have come a long way from when we first started teaching them, but they still have a really long way to go.

Elmer - Elmer is an old man that we have been trying to teach for a long time. He has really bad health problems so it makes it really difficult to see him. We commited him to pray about whether or not he should be baptized and if there is a prophet on the earth today. He says he will do that and if he gets an answer he will call us and let us know.

That's all that we were able to see this week. Like I said before, this was a really slow week. We just couldn't ever catch anyone at home.

Other than Kyle's stuff, there is a few things happening at our house. Jayden is growing like crazy and talks even more than she did before. Now you can actually almost have a real-word conversation with her. Danielle has only three months left of school and then she will be done. We're all going to celebrate that. Brittney is still going to school and coming home every week. We don't see her much because she usually gets home from school after Brent and I go to bed. I think she's enjoying it and the challenge it presents.

Brent and I are still working and trying to keep up with things. Brent drew out for the turkey hunt so we are heading to Brittney's neck of the woods in April to hunt. Boy, doesn't that sound fun. I'm planning to do lots of reading, scrapbooking, reading, sleeping, reading, etc., while Brent's chasing turkeys. We planted our "spring" garden last weekend and are feeling the after effects of that now. Getting old is not very fun. We planted about 40 strawberry plants (we bought LOTS more than we thought), some broccoli, carrots, radishes and some chard. We're trying to put all our new-found knowledge from our gradening class to work. Hopefully we will have lots of good stuff to eat when we're sitting in our chairs too sore and stiff to move from all the work.

Hey mom!

I'm really glad that I don't have to tract as much as dad did. I like OTMing people on the street a lot more than knocking doors.

That stinks that the weekend for the garden didn't turn out. Our weekend has been a bummer too. We got about 6 inches of snow on saturday. It started snowing at 8 in the morning and didn't stop until about 9. Luckily its like 60 degrees today so it should all melt by the end of the day. Blue sky and sunshine is very nice. we only have it about half of the time if we're lucky.

Yeah I knew that Joseph was engaged, but they didn't have a date for the wedding yet. How did the dinner with them go? Is she a winner?

Anti-Mormon stuff is all over the place around here. I haven't really ran into any here in Kansas so far, but I hear that the worst place for anti is Missouri. Some people are just too stubborn to listen to a good message. Boy are they going to be in for a shock in the next life.

We have a recent convert here that has run into some anti and her faith has been pretty shaken. She was one of the most solid converts from last year too. She never thought that her faith would be shaken and that she would have doubts about the church. She said "She feels as though she is taking a journey away from the church." We have an appointment to meet with her tonight.

Wow you guys are already moving your building again? That's crazy. Yeah having a job is a good thing. There are a ton of people here who don't have jobs, but they get wellfare, and they are totally happy with that. It boggles my mind. I wouldn't be able to stand just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing for my entire life.

Well I remembered to bring my camera this week, but I forgot the cord to plug into the computer. The computer doesn't have a card reader on it either. If I have a dinner with a member who will let me upload it from their house I'll do that.

Well everything is going good for me and I hope that everything is going good for you guys as well. I remember you always in my prayers.

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators:

Shanon + Molly - We haven't been able to get a meeting with them this week cause they live so far away. We didn't have church either so we couldn't talk to them there either.

Amy - We had an interesting meeting with her this week. She likes to argue a lot and she is really hard headed. If she continues to argue with us so much we are going to end up dropping her.

Rosco + Mary - Mary has been at work both times that we saw Rosco. He is still reading the Book of Mormon. He hasn't found any fault in it, but he has a couple little problems with a couple doctrines. We're going to give them a soft baptismal commitment and see if it helps them progress more.

Mayhues - We had a good visit with the Mayhues. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went really well and I gave them a soft baptismal commitment. They had an issue with it cause they have already been baptized into another church. We told them to pray about the church to know if it is true. They said that they would and if they got an answer they would be baptized.

Jerry - We had a really good lesson with Jerry on the Plan of Salvation. He understood pretty much everything. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He hasn't started reading yet so hopefully he will start now.

Bonnie - We had an awesome lesson with her this week. We taught her the Restoration and she had no problems with it. You could feel the Spirit very stongly during the lesson. We invited her to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray about it.

That's all the visits we had with investigators. Bit of a slow week.

Hey Mom!

Yeah, it was a bit of a shock to find out that Elder Argyle was leaving. My new companion is Elder Budden. He's been out for 1 year on Thursday. He is from Oregon, some town called Klamoth Falls, I think. We get along really well. We have a lot in common so it makes things pretty easy. He's a really good teacher so our lessons are pretty good. He has learned to talk a bit more. He likes tracting just about as much as I do.

Well chainmale is what some types of armor were made with back in the old days. The hacky sacks that I make are just 1/2 inch copper piping and 10 solid copper wires. It's pretty cool. I'm going to send one to the Holladay boys sometime soon so once they get it they can show you what it is.

Dang you got more snow? That's crazy! We haven't gotten any more snow, but we did get rained on the other day. We were at an appointment on the other side of town from our apartment and had to bike home in the rain. I was soaked! That stinks that the snow got in the way of your plans. Hopefully it'll dry up fast so you can get the garden started. Holy cow! That's a lot of classes in one day! I hope you learn lots.

Yeah our golden investigators are sweet! He was at church this week, but his wife wasn't. She had to babysit their nieces and nephews. We went through the baptismal questions with him and his only hold up is the one cup of coffee that he drinks in the mornings. Hopefully we will be able to help him quit quickly.

Wow you finally had some peace and quiet. That's awesome! Wow, you went out to Red Lobster?! That's way cool! I'm sure dad absolutely loved it.

I just realized that I forgot my camera, so I'll see if a member will upload the pictures for me at a dinner appointment. I've got about 60 new pictures on there. So that should keep you busy for a while. I'll see about trying to take more pictures.

Well I love you guys and I pray for you all the time!
Love Elder Joyner!

Investigators
Rosco + Mary - We had a few good visits with them this week. Mary was about to cry when Elder Argyle was leaving. We taught Rosco about the Plan of Salvation this week. He didn't really have any problems with it. We just need to get him to pray about the things we've taught him. We are going to give him a soft baptismal commitment this week. He doesn't really have any problems with the things that we have taught him. It just hasn't clicked in his head that if the Book of Mormon is true then that means that the church is true. Hopefully, once we commit him to baptism, something will click.

Mayhues - We visited with the Mayhues briefly this last week. We just stopped in mostly to invite them to church. They said they would come, but they still didn't show up this week. Hopefully we can put a desire in their hearts to come to church.

Anna + Amy - We met with Anna + Amy 3 times this week. We have had a few good discussions with them. Anna still feels uncomfortable about the church a bit. She has been praying to know whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. We're still trying to get her to want to quit smoking, but she will probably have to get her answer to her prayers first. Amy is starting to open up to us more. Hopefully she will start reading from the Book of Mormon now.

Fran - We met with Fran this week. We mostly just checked up on how her reading and praying is going. She still doesn't feel comfortable coming to church, but she is praying that Heavenly Father will help her feel ready.

Shanon + Molly- When we met with Shanon and Molly, Shanon told us about an experiment that he did while he was in Salt Lake at Temple Square. He would stand out on the street in front of Temple Square, then he would walk in the front gates, and then he would walk back out. He told us that he could feel a huge difference between the street and Temple Square. He said when you walked in the front gates, it was like Heavenly Father had wrapped his arms around him. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the third lesson. We only got to Faith in Jesus Christ, which is the second part of the lesson, and then he pretty much told us the rest of the lesson. We left him with all the pamphlets that we had so that he could study them cause he loves them. We have another appointment with him for Friday. We are probably going to set a baptismal date with him.

Here's Kyle's letter from this week. We were both shocked and very excited for him.

So when I got the package I didn't realize that the second envelope was for me sending the stuff back, so i ripped the pull tab on it. I wasn't thinking. So I'll just have to glue it back down before i ship it home. The CD is all the same pictures that I uploaded before. I just want a CD copy so I can put all my pics on a hard drive when I get back. I have more pictures that I'm planning to bring next week and upload.

Well that's awesome that you don't have to go to San Francisco for training anymore. Going turkey hunting with dad sounds like it should be fun. I'll make sure to upload my pictures before then so that you'll have something to do. At least you get to stay in a trailer rather than be in a tent.

Yes every once in a while this guy stops us and gives us doughnuts. There's a doughnuts shop in town that he goes to and gets bags of the day old doughnuts that they can't sell and whenever he sees us he tells us to grab about half a dozen each.

Yeah we haven't done a whole lot of biking lately because it's a little more awkward talking to people while we're on bikes so we've done a lot of walking. I just barely bought a light for the back of my bike today.

We were really shocked about how many people were inactive here too. If all those people were active, then there would be two stakes instead of just the one probably.

That's cool that our new neighbors are coming to church with our ward. I had no idea that they were even members. I figured that dad would be over there talking to them about motorcycles.

Hopefully everything goes good with your garden this year. It sounds like you guys have learned a lot about gardening.

That's cool that you and Sis. Argyle are having lunch together. We found out on Saturday that Elder Argyle is getting transfered to Webb City on Thursday. My new companion is Elder Buddon. I think that's how you spell it. I don't really know much about him. My zone leader Elder Browning said that when he went on exchanges with him he was kinda quiet, but that was a while ago so hopefully he talks more now.

So I picked up a new hobby this week from Bro. Adams. He taught me how to make chainmale. It's pretty sweet. He showed me how to make a hacky sack out of it. It's really easy. All it takes is copper piping and aluminum wiring. It can keep me busy when I have any down time.

Thursday will be the beginning of the third transfer of me being out! That's so crazy! This transfer has gone by extremely fast. It seems like I was just barely making the planner for this transfer and now I have to start making the one for next transfer. So I found out with me being out until the 2nd of December that the days that I'm out divides perfectly into 24. So every 31 days that I'm out is 1/24 of my mission. So I think the 20th is 1/6 of my mission. Time has really gone by fast!

I hope that everything is going good for you guys! I love all of you!

Love Elder Joyner

Investigators I saw this week:

Anna - We saw anna 3 times this week. We talked to her about commandments, humility, baptism, stoping smoking, and a whole lot of other things. She still doesn't have a desire to quit smoking, but we also found out that she doen't really know if the church is true yet either. She told us that she prayed about it and she received an answer in a dream, but she can't remember the dream so she can't remember her answer. So we still have a lot of work to do with her.

Rosco + Mary - This week we talked to them about how if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that he set up God's true church on the Earth. Rosco believes that the stuff that he has read so far is true and that he can find no fault in it, but he's not completely sure about the church yet. They came to church with us this week and they liked it a lot. Rosco loved that we have a lot of youth and kids in the church. He says that's something that he doesn't see in many other churches. He really liked coming to church. He said it was different and new, but he liked it. We have an appointment for Wednesday with them and we're going to talk with them about church more.

Stacie - We met with Stacie twice this week. She still doesn't really seem too interested in the church, but she likes meeting with us still. Hopefully we'll be able to change her mind about the church.

Bonnie(Toni)- Bonnie is a sweet old lady that we've started to teach. We do service for her about twice a week for her and then teach her. She said since we've been coming around that she has a lot more energy and she feels better. Hopefully we'll be able to continue to help her feel better and be able to teach her about the restoration.

Shanon + Molly - Shanon and Molly are the most golden investigators ever!!! They just moved here from Salt Lake. They have had LDS friends for a long time. We found them because they ordered the Restoration DVD. He used to work on Welfare Square in Salt Lake and has been to Temple Square about 100 times. He knows the visitor centers by heart. He has seen "Joseph Smilth the Prophet of the Restoration about a dozen times, he's seen "The Testaments" about 5 times and he's seen just about every single movie the church has put out. He has studied about pretty much every Prophet that we've had and he loves Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Willford Woodruff, Gordon B. Hinkley, and President Monson. When we first contacted him he was already talking to us about the first vision and how awesome it was. He already knows pretty much
everything about the church. He has never met with missionaries before. He has a triple combination and loves it. D+C is one of his favorite books. He knows about the Word of Wisdom and how he needs to stop drinking coffee. That is his only set back. He's already expressed to us that he wants to be baptized. They're amazing!

Fran - We taught Fran about the pre-mortal life and how God has a plan for each of us. Then she got way off topic and started talking about angels and some struggles that are going on in her life right now. So we're trying to help her overcome her struggles that she's going through now.

Amy - We visited Amy with Anna. Amy seems really interested in the church. She's kinda hard headed though. She is pretty stuck in her beliefs, but she says if her beliefs are wrong then she wants to correct them and make them right. She said that's why she is investigating the church cause if she finds out that we are right, then she wants to join our church.

I've decided it's much easier to just post Kyle's letters here instead of trying to retype what he said (yes, I'm a little slow). I have obviously taken out some "housekeeping" things and last names. Anyway, enjoy!!

Hey mom!

That card was awesome! We have been out of the snow for about 2 weeks now. The temperature has been up in the 40's for most of the week. It sure doesn't feel like it when the wind blows though. When I wrote you last week I was feeling much better. I have no idea what was going on with me last Sunday. It only lasted for that day so there's nothing to worry about. If I would have continued to be sick I would have gotten a blessing, but since it only lasted the one day I didn't get one.

Well we went back over to Honey's this week to see how she was doing, and Wes was back over there. Apparently she has now taken him back. We started teaching Wes again, but its obvious that he isn't where we had thought he was at. So it's obvious that it'll be a while before he can get baptized.

It seems like our teaching pool has been decreasing in the last little while. Elder Argyle and I have been doing a power hour everyday for the past week to try and find some more people to teach. Bro. Mahoney told us that these next couple weeks are the slowest weeks of the year so he told us to stay pumped for a little while and then the work will pick up more. We have found some pretty good potential investigators and hopefully we will be able to contact them this week.

We had a good district meeting with our zone leaders this week. They did some role plays with us to help us out with our OTMing (Open Thy Mouth, its contacting people on the street and stuff) and tracting abilities. It really gave me a boost of confidence cause I know I have the ability to talk to people I just don't care to do it.

We had stake conference this sunday. Bishop McMullen of the Presiding Bishopric was there. He is an amazing speaker. We found out from him that only about 41% of the people in the stake are active. There are about 2,400 people who are inactive in the stake. I couldn't believe that. There is a lot of reactivation work to be done in this area.

We found out this week that President Merkley is trying to keep trainees and their trainers together for 3 transfers so Elder Argyle and I should be together for another transfer.

Well I hope that everything is going good for you guys! I love you all!

Love Elder Joyner

People we taught this week.

Dave- we had a brief visit with Dave this week. We talked to him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the 3rd lesson in Preach My Gospel. It talks about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We didn't get too in depth cause we only had about 10 minutes to teach him.

Rosco + Mary- We read 2Nephi 29 with them and talked to them about how it is going on right now. Rosco really liked it and understands it. They said that they were going to try to come to stake conference, but if they couldn't make it there they would come this week. Hopefully they will come this week.

The(name removed) family - They live in our apartment complex, just on the other side. We talked to them about God answering prayers and church. They are actually looking for a new church now cause something happened in their last one so hopefully they will come with us now. They've been investigating since April and Bro. (name removed)has come to church once.

Stacie - We talked with Stacie this week about how it really does matter which church that we go to. I still don't think that grasps the concept that we are the only true church and that we are the only one that has authority given to us by God. Hopefully she'll learn some day.

Glenn- We talked with Glenn about the priesthood. He is a very strange man. He's convinced that Christ's second coming started in 1914 when WW1 started. He believes that even Christ didn't recieve the priesthood until 1914 so he doesn't believe that Joseph Smith could get the priesthood. Like I said, he is very strange.

Wes- We read Moroni 7 with him and talked about the spirit of Christ and how we can know things are good or evil. He understands everything that we teach him, but obviously something hasn't clicked with him.

Anna- We talked with Anna this week. She's been having difficulties with her fiance. We talked to her about still coming to church with her. The lesson was all over the place and we talked about alot of stuff. Hopefully she can overcome the obstacle in her way.

Fran- We had a good visit with Fran this week. We went over the Restoration with her. We could actually feel the spirit with her during the lesson. It's one of two lessons where we've really been able to feel the spirit. We've been able to keep her on track a lot more during our lessons and she is starting to make some progress. She still doesn't feel quite ready to come to church yet though.